Former Bulldog Sean Bailey shares his special memories from 2005 LSU game

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#DGD: Catching up with former UGA great Sean Bailey

In this week’s installment of the #DGD or “Damn Good Dawg” series, we catch up with former Georgia wide receiver Sean Bailey. The former Bulldog played at Georgia from 2003-07 and a number of memorable moments throughout his Georgia career.

But arguably his finest individual game came in the 2005 SEC Championship Game against LSU. Bailey only had two catches that day but both went for touchdowns and we’re for 74 yards as the Bulldogs came out with a 34-14 win for what was the program’s last SEC Championship until last season.

We caught up with the former Bulldog from Alpharetta to discuss that 2005 game against LSU as well as his thoughts on the current Georgia team. And if you want to hear some more former Bulldogs share their LSU memories, make sure to tune into the DawgNation Invasion special on the DawgNation Facebook and Youtube pages on Friday at 4 p.m. ET/CT as we broadcast live from New Orleans.

DawgNation: So where does that LSU win and specifically your performance rank in terms of moments or things you were able to accomplish in your career?

Sean Bailey: That was probably one of my most special memories. When I meet people that was one of my most special memories. When I meet new people that are Georgia fans that’s one of the first things they point to. And up until last year, it was our most recent SEC Championship. I’m thrilled we got one last year and hopefully we get another one this year. But it was just a special memory and it’s one that I’ll treasure forever.

DN: What was it like to have one of your best games in your career in one of the biggest games, against a very good LSU team?

SB: It’s awesome. I have a lot of fond memories of my time playing but none bigger than my time from that 2005 SEC Championship game. To be on that stage and have a performance like that it was really awesome.

DN: One of the differences between this year’s game and that 2005 contest was that Georgia is a considerable favorite (7.5-points) this time around, where as the Bulldogs were actually an underdog in 2005. Did that have any effect on that SEC Championship game that you played in?

SB: All week, nobody gave us a prayer in that game and it made things a lot easier to prepare. We were playing with house money and it was really just a relaxed week going into that game. We played really loose from the start and it sort of just had a snowball effect that carried us throughout the game.

DN: Another difference is that you guys had played LSU a few times in recent years where as Georgia hasn’t played LSU since 2013. How do you think that sense of familiarity helped you in that 2005 contest against LSU?

SB: It did for sure. In 2003, that was my freshman year and we played them twice, a really close game in Baton Rouge and then again in the SEC Championship game and neither of those really went our way. But then we bounced back against them in 2004 with a win against them. So we were really familiar with their personnel leading up to that game, so it sort of did feel like a rivalry game.

DN: The Georgia passing game seemed to take a step forward this year. What have you made of the wide receivers and the team so far this season.

SB: It’s super exciting to watch those guys.They’re super explosive and extremely, extremely deep and everybody’s making big plays. You can’t really key in on one guy and then you have those tight ends, that are playing so well. So as a receiver you’re just looking to see that ball spread out and everything is just wide open.

Georgia lands a big commitment in Lewis Cine

Surprise, surprise, the Bulldogs and Kirby Smart landed another big-time commitment on Wednesday, as 4-star defensive back Lewis Cine picked Georgia over the likes of Michigan, Texas, Penn State and Florida.

Cine is the No. 3 ranked safety in the 2019 class and becomes the only defensive back in Georgia’s class, but that’s just for now. Georgia still sits third in the 2019 recruiting rankings rankings, but it did move closer to Alabama and Texas A&M with the addition. That was to be expected after the Bulldogs lost three commitments last week.

As for where Georgia goes next? The Bulldogs still have a number of high-profile targets still on the board, such as 5-star linebacker Nakobe Dean and 5-star center Clay Webb. There’s also a few defensive backs Georgia is also in the running for, like 4-star cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. And of course there is recent de-commit Jadon Haselwood who is the No. 1 wide receiver in the country and there is still a very real possibility he ends up back in the class.

For more coverage on Cine, make sure to check out our Before the Hedges show from Wednesday, which you can see below. Before the Hedges airs every Wednesday, usually at 3:00 p.m. DawgNation’s Jeff Sentell and Brandon Adams will keep you up to date on all the latest recruiting news.

Georgia needs to get to its “murder gear”

Yes, you read that right. Murder gear. It’s a term that was used by Andy Staples and Ryen Russillo on The Ringer’s Dual Threat podcast and I thought it was great. Essentially it’s when Georgia decides, alright we’re done letting you hang around in this game. We’re just going to obliterate you off the field.

We’ve seen glimpses of that gear, most specifically in the third quarter of the South Carolina game where Georgia quickly turned a 20-10 game into a 41-10 game.

To get a better description of what Staples and Russillo define as murder gear, here’s what they had to say on the mater.

“I give Georgia credit for this, watching them most weeks this season, there’s been times when they haven’t looked great,” Russillo said. “And then they step it up and kill you. Some teams, they screw around for four quarters and then the ybeat you. Georgia will screw around and then say, enough of this and just beat you.

“Yeah I feel like they have that murder gear. Alabama is in murder gear all the time where as Georgia has to shift into it,” Staples said. “But it’s not like Clemson, where they never shift into it. Georgia always does it at some point in time.”

Georgia has shown that it’s capable of shifting into that gear. But to do it at LSU, in that environment against that team, it would be a huge statement to the rest of the country. For as much as Alabama has owned LSU in recent years, Alabama’s biggest win at LSU in the Saban era is just 10 points, and that came in 2016 when Alabama beat LSU 10-0.